Zimmerman's hat in ring for UNC job

Sources: UMBC coach could succeed Klarmann

UMBC lacrosse coach Don Zimmerman is among the candidates who could become the next head men's lacrosse coach at North Carolina, according to sources familiar with the search under way in Chapel Hill.

With Dave Klarmann preparing to step down after 10 seasons with the Tar Heels, North Carolina athletic director Dick Baddour said he officially announced the opening earlier this month, and that a pool of candidates was forming.

Zimmerman declined comment. Baddour would not confirm or deny that Zimmerman had applied for the job.

"I will not get into a discussion with anybody about who may or not be interested in the job. I don't think that's good for the process or the [candidates]," Baddour said.

"I certainly have a group of people who I'm told might be interested in the position. When the lacrosse season is over, we will be in a position to name a head coach."

Zimmerman, who spent four years as an assistant at North Carolina, was a member of the staff that guided the Tar Heels to national championships in 1981 and 1982.

He then took over at Johns Hopkins in 1984, where he became the first head coach to win a national title in his initial season. Zimmerman also led the Blue Jays to titles in 1985 and 1987.

After leaving Hopkins following the 1990 season, Zimmerman was an assistant for three seasons at Loyola before taking the head-coaching job at UMBC.

Zimmerman is winding up his seventh season with the Retrievers, who made the NCAA Division I tournament for the first time in 1998, then repeated that feat a year ago.

UMBC will not return to the NCAAs this year. The Retrievers are 6-6 with two games left.

The Tar Heels have had initial talks with Hopkins head coach John Haus regarding Klarmann's replacement.

Haus, who took his first Division I job at Hopkins in 1998 after leading Division III Washington College to a national championship that year, was an All-America defenseman who played a key role for Carolina's championship teams in the early 1980s.

Haus has said he has no plans to leave the Blue Jays. Hopkins athletic director Tom Calder, who signed Haus to a five-year contract last year, said he plans to approach Haus about another extension by 2002.